The plugin's header image

Here’s a quick security and site management tool.

Wouldn’t you like to know if one of your installed plugins is no longer in the WordPress Plugin Directory?

A new plugin, No Longer in Directory, does just that.

It ignores plugins from other sources, like WPMU DEV.

It simply lists the names of the installed plugins, whether active or not, that are no longer in the WP Plugin Directory, as shown below:

Example output from the plugin

Why Do We Care?

As stated on the plugin’s Description page:

 Plugins can be removed for the following reasons:

• they are found to break the GPL
• they are found to break the directory rules
• other plugins by the author are found to be a problem and all are removed pending investigation
• the author asks for it to be closed
• the author asks for it to be closed because they are re-releasing under a different name
• it is being investigated after non-specific complaints
• there is a security vulnerability

That’s a pretty compelling list if you ask me. You may also want to consider testing this list of plugins with the Deprecation Checker plugin.

Why not download and activate the plugin today and see if any of yours have been removed without you knowing or end up getting removed in the future? Just remember to check that link under the Plugins menu area to get the current list.

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Whenever I write a blog post, I like to have at least an idea in my head as to where I am going with it. That may not be immediately clear to those of you who have read my posts before, but I swear that it’s the truth.

That idea may be nothing more than a fleeting thought, but whenever I am writing something more than a few hundred words, I like to outline my post before writing it. This outline will typically be some indented bullet points, featuring the subheaders and content ideas that I want to cover.

I’ve always prepared these outlines in a text editor, then flitted between it and WordPress when writing the post. However, a simple little plugin that I discovered today can take out some the hassle.

Notely

This plugin isn’t going to win any awards for spectacular functionality, but if you’re looking for somewhere to take notes whilst you’re writing posts in WordPress, Notely will do the trick just fine.

All the plugin does is include a plain text box within the Add New Post/Page screen, like this:

It may seem simple, but for people like me who like to plan their posts before writing, it is a handy little spot to make notes.

Download Notely here.

Creative Commons image courtesy of @boetter

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In February the folks at ThemeShaper, the home of the Automattic Theme Team, released Underscores, or _s for short. Anyone can download the _s theme at github, but in order to fork it, you previously had to make a number of search and replace substitutions.

The good news is that this is no longer the case, thanks to the new Underscores.me website. It allows you to generate your own Underscores-based theme with your custom theme name and the search and replace already complete.

What’s so cool about Underscores?

Underscores is a starter theme and is not intended to be a parent theme. That means you’re not waiting for updates to come down to improve your theme. A starter theme means that you are the innovator and the theme is yours; create whatever you want with it. It’s made to be hacked.

Underscores Features:

• Lean, well-commented, modern, HTML5 templates.
• A helpful 404 template.
• Optional sample custom header implementation in inc/custom-header.php
• Custom template tags in inc/template-tags that keep your templates clean and neat and prevent code duplication.
• Sample theme options in /inc/theme-options/
• Some small tweaks in /inc/tweaks.php that can improve your theming experience.
• Keyboard navigation for image attachment templates, in js/keyboard-navigation.js.
• A script at js/small-menu.js that makes your menu a toggled dropdown on small screens
• 5 sample CSS layouts in /layouts: Two sidebars on the left, two sidebars on the right, a sidebar on either side of your content, and two-column layouts with sidebars on either side.
• Smartly organized starter CSS in style.css that will help you to quickly get your design off the ground.

Wow, that’s a lot to get excited about! In case you’re under the impression that this is one of those easy-to-use themes packed full of one billion options, be advised that it’s simply a blank canvas. Underscores was created for theme developers, so don’t expect a fancy ready-to-use theme out of the box. Generate your own Underscores-based theme at Underscores.me. Go ahead and create that beautiful WordPress theme you’ve always dreamed about.

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